Articles by Elias Turk
Pope Leo reveals Mideast peace talks with Trump, Netanyahu, other regional players
Dec 2, 2025 / 11:30 amPope Leo XIV said he has already begun “in a very small way” conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
UPDATED: Pope Leo XIV calls Lebanon to stand up, be a home of justice and fraternity
Dec 2, 2025 / 04:52 amIn a city still marked by the sounds of the 2024 escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, Pope Leo XIV urged Lebanon to rise above violence and division.
Pope Leo prays at Beirut blast site, meets families seeking justice
Dec 2, 2025 / 03:15 amPope Leo XIV paused on the final morning of his trip to Lebanon before the ruins of the Beirut port explosion, praying in silence and placing a wreath in memory of victims.
Pope Leo urges Lebanon to place the sick at the center of society
Dec 2, 2025 / 02:07 amPope Leo XIV told hospital patients and caregivers in Lebanon that he had come to “where Jesus dwells,” adding that Christ is present “in you who are ill.”
Pope Leo to Lebanese youth: Love, not retaliation, is the real answer to evil
Dec 1, 2025 / 12:34 pmPope Leo XIV met Lebanese youth in the square in front of the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch in Bkerké on the second day of his apostolic visit to Lebanon.
Pope Leo tells Lebanese religious leaders unity and peace are possible
Dec 1, 2025 / 10:35 amPope Leo XIV told Lebanon’s religious leaders on Monday that their country remains a sign to the world that fear and prejudice do not have the final word.
Pope Leo offers Lebanon a way to hope ‘even when surrounded by the sound of weapons’
Dec 1, 2025 / 05:32 amPope Leo told Lebanon’s bishops, clergy, and pastoral workers on Monday that Christians can remain steadfast in hope “even when surrounded by the sound of weapons.”
Pope Leo entrusts Lebanon to St. Charbel’s intercession, prays at his tomb
Dec 1, 2025 / 03:37 amPope Leo XIV began his second day in Lebanon on Monday with a deeply symbolic pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf.
Pope Leo XIV calls Lebanon to tenacity, hope, and reconciliation
Nov 30, 2025 / 11:20 amPope Leo XIV urged Lebanon’s leaders to embrace tenacity, dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the common good during an address on Sunday.
Pope Leo says Erdogan talks focused on Gaza and Ukraine, sees Turkish role in peace efforts
Nov 30, 2025 / 10:15 amPope Leo XIV said Sunday that he discussed both the Gaza war and the conflict in Ukraine directly with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Pope Leo XIV arrives in Lebanon, bringing a message of peace to a nation scarred by war
Nov 30, 2025 / 08:32 amThe sky over Lebanon opened Sunday not to warplanes but to the aircraft carrying Pope Leo XIV.
UPDATED: Pope Leo XIV honors ‘courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people’ in Istanbul
Nov 30, 2025 / 04:50 amPope Leo XIV dedicated the final morning of his visit to Turkey on Sunday to strengthening ties with the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Pope Leo XIV, at Mass in Turkey, calls for Catholic, ecumenical, and interreligious unity
Nov 29, 2025 / 11:20 amPope Leo XIV marked the start of Advent on Saturday with an appeal for unity and peace.
Pope Leo XIV and Bartholomew I ‘deeply alarmed’ by global tensions
Nov 29, 2025 / 10:07 amPope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople said on Saturday they are “deeply alarmed by the current international situation.”
Pope Leo XIV visits emblematic Turkish mosque in sign of fraternity with Muslims
Nov 29, 2025 / 03:10 amPope Leo XIV started his third day in Turkey on Saturday with a visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul.
Pope Leo XIV marks Nicaea anniversary, urges Christians to overcome divisions
Nov 28, 2025 / 08:05 amPope Leo XIV commemorated the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea on Friday in the Turkish city historically known as the birthplace of the Nicene Creed.
Pope Leo shares ‘secret of Christian charity’ with Little Sisters of the Poor
Nov 28, 2025 / 03:00 amPope Leo XIV visited the Nursing Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Istanbul on Friday.
Pope Leo reminds Turkish Catholic minority of the ‘logic of littleness’
Nov 28, 2025 / 01:55 amPope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey’s small Catholic community Friday to rediscover what he called the Gospel’s “logic of littleness.”
Pope Leo denounces ‘might is right’ in address to Turkish authorities
Nov 27, 2025 / 08:25 amPope Leo XIV opened his first international trip on Thursday with a sweeping call for unity, renewed dialogue, and a rejection of the global drift toward division and violence.
Pope Leo XIV to focus on Christian unity, relations with Islam in Turkey and Lebanon
Nov 27, 2025 / 04:57 amPope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey on Thursday on his first international apostolic journey.